Cooling system for internal-combustion engines or the like



May 22, 1923. t 1,456,072

' s. A. MOSS I COOLING SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COM BUSTION ENGINES OR THELIKE Filed OCt-. 15, 1920 fnl/entw; Sanford .7? M055.

ma cooling 50 cool t e liquid inthe radiator.

Patented May 22, .1923.

, UN TED. STAT S 4 I 1,456,072 PATENT OFFICE.

aaNronn a moss, or LYNN, massncnusn rrs, AssrcNoR To enmnnnnnc'rnrcCOMPANY, a CORPORATION or NEW vonx;

COOLING SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES OR THE LIKE.

Application n-led october is, 1920. Serial No. 417,179. K

. To all whom it may concern:

.Be it known that I, SANFORD A. Moss, 'a citizen of the United States,residin at Lynn, inthe county of Essex, State of assachusetts, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Cooling Systems forInternal-Combustion Engines 'or the like, of which the following is aspecification. f

The present application is a continuation in part'of my application,Serial No. 301,-

105, filed May 31,1919. The present invention relates to radiators forasolene engines or the like and more particularly to radiato'rswhich aresubjected to varying outside pressures as is met with for example inconnection with the radiators of aeroplanes which operateat va- I riousaltitudes. As is well known, the boiling temperature of}; liquiddepend's'on the pressure, and at high altitudes where the atmosphericpressure is low, the cooling liquid (usually water) inthe radiator of anaeroplane motor may easily reach'a tempera-jtulre where it will boil andsoon exhaust it On the other hand, if a hermetically sealed radiator isused the difference in pressure between the inside and outside maybecome so great at high altitudes as to cause the radiator to burst andin any event, would be a continuous source of danger. The object of thepresentinvention is to provide an' improved structure'and arrange- .mentwhich will. overcome the above dlfilculty and for aconsideration of whatI believe to be novel and my invention, attention is directed to theaccompanying description and the claims appended thereto. a v 40 In thedrawin Fig.1 is an outline ofa part of an .aerop ane equipped witha radiator embodying my invention, and Fig. 2 is a a detail partly in sectionof the radiator.

Referr ng to the drawing, 5 indicates an. aeropllane, 6 its engine and 7the radiator whic 'is connected to t e coolin jackets of the engine bypipes 8 and 9. e radiator be of any suitable structure and has tubes 7'through which air passes to Now, according tomy invention, I form thecooling system so it is entirely closed to the outside atmosphere and soconstruct the radiator and other parts that their walls will i .55withstand a certain desired difierenoe in I pressure between the insideand outside thereof. I then provide in the system, for example, inconnection with the radiator, a suitable outwardly opening relief valvewhichwillxopen to-relievethe pressure in the system in case thedifference 1n pressure between the inside and outside of the systemapproaches too closely the ressure which the system is designed. to witstand.

In addition to and in combination with the outwardly opening reliefvalve, I pro vide also, an inwardly opening check valve adapted to admitair to the radiator when the pressure onthe outside of the radiatorexceeds that on the inside.

, The two valves above referred to may be built into a common valvestructure or they may be separate valves asjfound desirable. In thepresent instance, I have shown a relief valve comprising a casing 10attached to the top of radiator 7 andv provided with a seat 11 uponwhich'seats' a valvexl2. Sur rounding the stem' of valve 12 is asuitable spring 13 for biasing the valve toward closed position. One endofspring 13 rests on valve 12 and the other end engages an ad- 'justableabutment 14, having a portion 15 in threaded engagement with casing 10.By

adjusting abutment 14 the tension of spring 13 may be made such thatvalve 12 will open when the pressure inside the radiator exceeds thaton' the. outside by a predetermined amount.

- Connected'with the radiator,.for example, with casing 10 at a pointbelow valve 12 is an inwardly opening valve comprising a casing 10,having aseat 11 a inst 'WhlCh rests a non-return valve 12. alve .12 is.shown as being a simple 'form' of clapper valve biased by its weight toclosed position. Valve casing 10 is connected to and sup ported oncasinglO b a short pipe 13 When myimprove arran ment is. used inconnection with an aerop ane it will be clear that as the aeroplanerises in the air, 1 00 the pressure on the outside of the radiator, i.e., the atmospheric pressure, decreases. However, the pressure in theradiator will be maintained the same until the'difi'erence in pressureis'reached at which the relief valve is set to open. This, of course, isat a ios pressure lower than that'considered safe for the weakest partof the cooling'system. The

relief valve .will then open and permit the within the cool ng system tolower 11o to a safe value when it will automatically close again. Bythismeans a safe pressure difference between the inside and outside of thesystem will be maintained always. At the same time, however, the highestsafe pressure will be maintained in the system so as to keep the boilingtemperature of the cooling liquid as high as possible thus maintaining ahigher temperature at which the engine may operate which adds to itspower and efficiency.

In the case of an aeroplane, there is always provided an altimeter forindicating the aeroplane altitude, such an instrument being indicated at16, and according to my invention, it may be provided, in addition tothe regular scale, with an additional scale indicating correspondingvalues of safe temperatures of cooling water. These temperatures wouldbe boiling temperatures corre sponding to the altitudes, plus an amountcorresponding to the pressure diii'erences for which the relief valve isset. in connection with the radiator is athermometer 17, for exam le, athermometer of the vapor-pressure type, for indicating the temperatureof the cooling water and a pressure gauge 18. By observing theseinstruments the aviator can regulate the power of his engine. in anywell known or suitable manner soas to keep the actual temperature of thecooling water within the safe temperature indicated by the scale on thealtimeter.

/Vhen the aeroplane is operating at high altitudes more or less of thewater may be boiled out of the radiator through the relief valve 12. Asa result when the radiator cools as for example byshutting ofi' theengine more or less or by the machine approaching the ground thepressure on the outside of the radiator has a tendency to become greaterthan that on the inside. This is overcome, however, by the inwardlyopening valve l2 which under such circum stances opens to admit air tothe radiator.

By this means the pressure inside the radiator cannot decrease lowerthan that upon the outside so that the boiling temperature of the waterin the radiator will always equal at least that which corresponds to thesurrounding atmospheric pressure.

As will be clear, if a valve such as valve 12 were not provided there isa likelihood that the pressure within the radiator might becomesufiiciently low to cause the radiator to collapse upon the aeroplaneapproaching ,the ground after having flown to a high al-- titude. v

If desired, I may provide in connection with the radiator a suitablemeans which will automatically regulate or cut down the power of theengine in case the difi'erence in pressure between the inside and theoutside of the radiator reaches an unsafe value and I, have indicatedsuch an arrangement diagrammatically in Fig. 1. Associated with theengine are suitable regulating throttle valves 20 which are connected bya rod 21 to the central portion of a floating lever 22.

One end of floating lever 22 is connected by a link 23 to a hand lever24. The other end of floating lever 22 is pivotally connected to asealed diaphragm chamber 25 of suitable structure which is subjected onits inside to the pressure in the radiator through a pressure pipe 26.Diaphragm chamber 25 is thus subjected on its inside to the radiatorpressure and on its outside to the surrounding atmospheric pressure, andhence Wlll be expanded and collapsed in accordance with the differencebetweensuch pressures. As is obvious hand lever 24 may be operated inthe ordinary manner to regulate the setting of valves 20, floating lever22 at such times pivoting on its pivotal connection with diaphragmchamber 35. Diaphragm chamber 25 will be so adjusted that for safediffen ences'in pressure between the inside and outside of the radiatorit will not be affected. This may be accomplished in any suitable manneras by means of an adjustable spring as indicated at 25*. in case suchpressure difl erencesbecome so great as to be unsafe, however, then thediaphragm chamber will I be expanded thus moving valves 20 toward closedposition to cut down the power of the engine.

' in accordance with the provisions of the Patent Statutes, l havedescribed the principle of operation of my invention, together with theapparatus which l now, consider to represent the best embodimentthereof, but 1 desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown isonly illustrative and that the invention may be carried out by othermeans.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is

l. The combination with an aeroplane having an internal combustionengine, and a hermetically sealed liquid cooling system thereforcomprising a radiator through which cooling liquid circulates andconduits connecting the radiator to the engine, of means for preventingthe occurrence of abnormal operating conditions in the radiator due tohigh altitudes comprising valve means associated with the system andadapted to 1 open outwardly whenever the altitude atnecting the radiatorto the engine, of means for preventing the occurrence of abnormaloperating conditions in the radiator due to high altitudes comprising anoutwardly opening valve biased to closed position and adapted to openwhenever the altitude atmospheric'pressure falls below the pressure inthe radiator by more than a predetermined amount, and an inwardlyopening valve which opens to admit air to the radiator to prevent theformation at any altitude of a vacuum in the radiator.

3. The combination with an internal combustion engine having a closedcooling system, of means for automatically diminishing the power of theengine when the pressureon the outside of the cooling system reaches.

a value apredetermined amount lower than that on the inside. i

4. The combination with an internal come bustion engine having a coolingjacket, of a radiator connected to the jacket to form a closed liquidcooling system, an automatic pressure relief valve connected to saidsystem, and means for automatically diminishing the power of the enginein case the difference in pressure between the inside and outside of theradiator passesbeyond a predetermined value.

5. The combination with an internal combustion engine having a coolingjacket, of a radiator connected thereto to form an ent1re 1y closedcirculating system, means for indicating to the aviator the operativecondition ofthe liquid in the cooling system whereby he can regulate hisengine in accordance therewith, and automatic means for diminishing thepower of the engine in case the difference in pressure between theinside and the outside of the radiator becomes greater than aprdetermined amount. a

6. The combination with an internal combustion engine having a coolingjacket, of a radiator connected thereto to form an entirely closedcirculating system, means for indicating to the aviator the operativecondition of theliquid in the cooling system whereby'he can regulate hisengine in accordance therewith, and automatic means con-- trolled by thedifference in pressure between the inside and outside of the radiatorfor diminishing the ower of the engine when such pressure di erencereaches a predetermined amount.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day ofOctober, 1920.

SANFORD A; Moss.

